This year for International Women’s Day we are sitting down with some wāhine founders at  Basestation to kōrero about their journey and learnings in setting up and running their own organisation.

For this blog we’ve captured a conversation with Bryar Stewart, founder and host of Powered by Impact. A platform and podcast that has grown into a community and content studio supporting business growth by raising the profile of their impact.

Basestation recently signed up to the Safe Space Alliance. 

Who is the Safe Space Alliance?

They are a LGBTQI+ led non-profit organisation that helps people identify, navigate, and create safe spaces for LGBTQI+ communities worldwide. Their two core activities include maintaining an online directory of spaces around the world that welcome and support LGBTQI+ communities, and helping LGBTQI+ people get to safety. 

As it is Techweek this week; Aotearoa’s festival for tech that’s good for the world - we thought it would be a good excuse to catch up with some of our residents in the technology sector at Basestation. One of the longest standing companies here is TechnologyWise, we sat down for a kōrero with June Chong, one of the youngest members of the team. 

We are fortunate that at Basestation we attract a number of people who are from overseas. This contributes to the diverse and inclusive culture we seek to foster in our coworking space. With Canada Day coming up on Monday 1st July, we thought it would be a good excuse to kōrero with one of our Canadian residents.

Meet Kurt Cordice from Enigmatic Global, he is a regular user of our hot desks at Basestation and has been with us since 2017.

We are fortunate that Basestation attracts a number of people who are from overseas. This contributes to the diverse and inclusive culture we seek to foster in our coworking space. With Bastille Day (Fête nationale française if you are French!) coming up on Sunday 14th July, we thought it would be a good excuse to kōrero with one of our French residents. 

Meet Charlotte Grosjean from Bark Limited, she has a permanent desk at Basestation and has been with us since January 2023. She started off in a single office on our first floor but after a few months moved down to our ground floor to join the open plan hot desk space. 

As part of Basestation’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) we sponsor or offer in-kind support to initiatives, events or groups that align with our kaupapa. One of these is Powered by Impact - a podcast series set up by one of our residents, Bryar Stewart from The Icehouse. Powered by Impact is Bryar’s side hustle and passion, we wrote a blog about her drive to get the podcast up and running earlier this year as part of our International Women’s Day series.

The 5th September is International Day of Charities!

We thought this would be a great excuse to share a bit about one of the charities at Basestation - Stand Tall. Founded by Pascale Hyboud-Peron (also one of the co-founders of Basestation) - Stand Tall works alongside rangatahi to grow and develop their entrepreneur skills and mindset. One of the many programmes Stand Tall delivers in the Bay of Plenty is, the Young Enterprise Scheme (YES). 

To end Māori language week, we wanted to share a blog which captures a kōrero we had with three people who have connections with Basestation. We wanted a variety of perspectives, lived experiences and their relationship to Aoteraoa and te reo Māori. We spoke to:

• Manaia - a young wāhine in her twenties, born and raised in the Tauranga, Manaia whakapapa on her paternal side to Te Atihaunui a Pāpārangi. We talked to Manaia about her mahi with Stand Tall and the Young Enterprise Scheme in a previous blog which you can read here.  
• Erin - also born and raised in Tauranga, Erin is pakeha with European ancestry. She has three adult daughters and works at Bike Stop which is a partnership with Basestation and Tauranga City Council. You can also read a blog we did with Erin when she was the Community Assistant at Basestation here. 
• Pascale - is one of the four co-founders of Basestation, Pascale migrated to Aotearoa from Europe in her 20’s. She is the founder and Stand Tall, you can read more about Pascale and her mahi in a blog we wrote for International Women’s Day here.